If you’ve opened a paper recently or looked online, you can’t help but notice the raft of stories linking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with a move to Liverpool, City or Chelsea.

In fact, the stories are so widespread and ever-changing that it is hard to come to any other sort of conclusion than this is the work of his agent trying to get him a better deal, either at Arsenal or elsewhere.

With just one year left on his contract, many agree that the Ox has a right to feel frustrated by his position at Arsenal. His potential and ability are not in question, so what’s the problem?

Well, something many fans, and the player and his agent would be well served remembering, is this is a 23-year-old player who arrived at Arsenal six years ago for £12m, a substantial sum for a teenager, then if it isn’t now.

During those six years, the Ox has suffered 11 different injuries, ruling him out of a total of 154 games. Arsenal could perhaps be forgiven for wanting to see if he would recover from the two knee injuries that ruined 2016 for him before throwing £100k-a-week at him.

I like the Ox. A lot. Not only is he a very talented and hard-working player, he’s also one who genuinely seems to hold affection for Arsenal.

I’d be gutted if he left Arsenal, but I do think that his camp need to wind their necks back in. Arsenal have paid him handsomely for six years while he was too crippled to play. When he’s fit, he gets games.

A little bit of appreciation for the club that stood by him would be nice rather than a host of leaks linking him with every club under the sun.

His camp might be annoyed at how Arsenal have treated contract negotiations, but I’m sure Arsenal aren’t best pleased that the Ox has missed what amounts to FOUR full Premier League seasons worth of games in the six years he’s been at the club, either.

Had it not been for Arsene Wenger, it’s unlikely he’d even be at a club like Arsenal given his problems.

Loyalty isn’t a one way street, you know…